Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas announced last summer that he would not play this season, and that remains the case.

However, the 38-year-old has told the team, through his agent, Bill Zito, that he wants to play in the NHL next season and also has an interest in representing Team USA at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, according to CSNNewEngland.com.

“He’s told us that he’s not going to be here, but that he wants to play next year,” said Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli.

“So we’ll end up suspending him and we’ll be doing it in a non-adversarial way. So he’ll be on our (salary) cap unless we trade him. With the (cap) floor as it is at $44 million there’s probably not an opportunity to trade him to a team that needs to get to the floor. So we’re at a standstill right now.”

Thomas is entering the final year of his contract. He wants to play only for the Bruins if he does return to the NHL, a source told CSNNE.com.

The Bruins could chose to “toll the contract,” meaning Thomas would owe the team another contracted year of service. The two-time Vezina Trophy winner no longer holds any no-trade provisions, CSNNE.com notes.

Boston is planning on entering the season with Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin handling netminder duties.